Society

Details of police shooting in SW China emerge

By Yan Jie (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-19 07:39

The latest police shooting case in southwest China's Guizhou province is undergoing even more probes amid emerging details, local authorities said yesterday.

At a press conference in Anshun, officials from the city's police and publicity departments insisted that two closely related villagers, namely Guo Yongzhi and Guo Yonghua, were shot dead last Tuesday after they tried grabbing the gun of Zhang Lei, the policeman involved in the case.

"The final conclusion will be drawn by the official from the public security ministry," Wu Baocheng, an official with Anshun's information office, told China Daily on the phone after the press conference.

He could not predict the date of the conclusion's outcome because the case seems complicated, added Wu.

Xu Jianguo, the lawyer representing Guos' family in the case, said that he is waiting for the final result of the probes.

At the press conference, more details of the incident surfaced, resulting from an autopsy and more than 40 interviews with witnesses conducted by the investigative group.

Zhang fired two shots in the air to warn both villagers who tried to seize his gun.

But the men ignored his warnings and were bent on the attempt.

During this tussle, the policeman shot and killed the men.

Both villagers were shot in the head, according to an autopsy report. One of them was first shot in the right thigh before the next bullet hit him in the head.

The villagers were drunk during their confrontation with the policeman.

Tests on their blood samples showed that their blood contained more than 200 milligrams of alcohol per 100-milliliters of blood, surpassing the standard of 80 milligrams per 100-millimeters of blood, which is the standard for being considered drunk.

Zhang was too inexperienced to bring the situation under his control, according to an earlier report, quoting an unnamed local police chief in Anshun.

Zhang should have questioned whether he needed to shoot at the villagers, said the police chief.

Since March 2008, Zhang has been the deputy chief of the police in Pogong town, where the shootings occurred.

Guns for police use were delivered to the town's police station at the end of last year, according to media reports.